"The money raised has helped financial closure for two ultra-mega power projects of 4,000 MW each - at Sasan in Madhya Pradesh and Krishnapatnam in Andhra Pradesh," said Reliance ADA Group Chairman Anil Ambani.

The move is part of an ambitious plan of the company to invest about $17.75 billion in next three years to increase thermal power generation capacity by 20,000 MW.

"Reliance Power will have operational capacity of 5,000 MW by 2012 and commission another 20,000 MW over the next three years (by 2015)," Ambani said at the company's annual general meeting.

Reliance Power, which currently produces 6,000 MW of power, has three of the four ultra-mega power projects awarded by the Indian government. The fourth one is the 4,000 MW Tilaiya project in the Indian state of Jharkhand. The cost of generating one megawatt of electricity is about $888,000.

Ambani also announced an outlay of $2.21 billion for the 2,400 MW power project at Samalkot in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. The construction for this unit, which had already started, will be completed by 2012, he told shareholders.

The group also plans 10,000 MW of gas-based power projects, with feedstock coming from the fields of Krishna-Godavari basin, off the coast of Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

Reliance Power is set to invest about $6.66 billion for setting up hydropower projects in Arunachal Pradesh in order to enhance its clean energy portfolio, according to the company's CEO JP Chalasani.

The group also remained bullish on other renewable sources of power such as wind and solar. "The renewable portfolio of the company will comprise 600 MW solar and 400 MW wind projects," said Chalasani.

Thus, the company's power generation capacity from all sources of energy is expected to touch 35,000 MW by 2017.

The Anil Ambani Group is also planning to enter the banking sector through group firm Reliance Capital after the Reserve Bank of India, the country's central bank, threw open a discussion on granting new banking licenses.

"We have always regarded banking as a high-priority sector with huge potential opportunity, and are evaluating the different options contained in the (RBI's proposed) guidelines," Ambani said, referring to a discussion paper recently floated by RBI on grant of new banking licenses.

The group, separately, said it is looking to unlock value in its life insurance venture through listing of Reliance Life as an individual company on the bourses.

Ambani said India's Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is currently at an advanced stage of finalizing the guidelines for the listing of life insurance companies.

"Once this is done, we will explore the possibility of creating value for our investors by listing our life insurance business," he told shareholders at Reliance Capital's AGM.

In another development, IRDA Chairman J. Hari Narayan said the IPO guidelines for life insurers would soon be announced and was currently awaiting clearance from Securities and Exchange Board of India - the capital market regulator of the country.